World Premiere by an Award-Winning Playwright

SYNOPSIS

Emily, a would-be writer, retreats home to O’ahu after Manhattan finally gets the best of her. Trading one island for another doesn’t help, though, and when she stumbles into a gig as an actor on a shock-jock radio dating show, she finds herself strangely determined to turn fantasy into reality. Told through a playful mixture of phone calls, voicemails, and live radio spots, Today Is My Birthday is a comedy about loneliness in the age of connection.

NEW YORK TIMES: In ‘Today Is My Birthday,’ Love is a Butt-Dial“Ms. Ikeda, an indispensable Off Broadway regular and a noted audiobook narrator, threads a difficult needle here, creating a character whose apparent competence and cheerful snark belie a crumbling core…[Page 73’s] alumni include multiple prizewinners like Quiara Alegría Hudes, Robert Askins, Samuel D. Hunter and Heidi Schreck. Ms. Stanton belongs among them.”

THEATERMANIA: ‘Today Is My Birthday’ Review“[Today Is My Birthday] really gets its unique charm, though, from the complex sound design of Palmer Hefferan, who serves as a Foley artist while simultaneously executing a multitude of other diverse sound cues.”

EXEUNT NYC: ‘Today is My Birthday’ at New Ohio Theater“In 2017, it shouldn’t be refreshing or noteworthy that [Page 73’s] roster of excellent young writers, not to mention their cast, reflects the breadth and diversity of American voices and perspectives. But, since that’s still rarer than it should be, I will note only that Susan Soon He Stanton joins a long line of exciting writers produced by Page 73, and I’m excited to see what both she and the company will do next.”

FROM A PREVIOUS WORKSHOP: Sundance Theatre Lab: The Sound Design of “Today Is My Birthday”

Video courtesy of Sundance Institute

CAST

(click for bio)Jonathan BrooksJonathan’s previous theatre credits include Clov in Engame (Undermain Theatre, Dallas), Orlando in As You Like It (Trinity Shakespeare Festival Ft. Worth), Rick in Rick the Strangler (The Electric Lodge, LA) and Riff in an bilingual production of West Side Story (IGA, Guatemala). Film and TV credits include NBC’s Blindspot, NCIS LA on CBS, ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat, Adult Swim’s Children’s Hospital. Film credits: Manson Family Vacation (Netflix) with Jay Duplass and The Playroom with John Hawkes. His band jonny boy will be releasing its new album Good Times, Great Oldies this spring. He would like to thank his rock, his roll, his partner in crime Ashley. I love you. And Kat Owens for always fighting for me. And Tash. You know why.Ugo ChukwuRecent credits include Ripcord (Huntington Theater), [PORTO] (Bushwick Starr) and Minor Character: Six Translations of Uncle Vanya at the Same Time (New Saloon; NYIT award winner – Best Ensemble). Ugo has been in numerous readings and workshops with various companies such as Target Margin, Ars Nova, Atlantic Theater, The Flea, Clubbed Thumb, Playwrights Horizons, The New Group, EST, and more. BFA at Brooklyn College. www.ugochukwuactor.com

Ron DomingoTheatre Includes: Chairs and a Long Table (Ma-Yi); The American Pilot (MTC); The Romance of Magno Rubio (Ma-Yi); On House (WPA Theatre); Paper Dolls (Tricycle – London); Uncommon Sense (Tectonic), King & I (Lyric Theatre); A Dream Play (Cleveland Playhouse). Television Includes: The Mysteries of Laura (NBC); Blue Bloods (CBS); Person of Interest (CBS); Pan Am (NBC); As the World Turns (CBS); Rescue Me (CBS); Law & Order (NBC). Film Includes: Tenderness, Robot Stories, The Motel, Slow Jam King.Jennifer IkedaJennifer is very happy to be working with Susan Stanton again, having appeared in Takarazuka!!! at Clubbed Thumb. NY Theater: Linda, Vietgone, Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., Charles Frances Chan Jrs…, Macbeth, Love and Information, Ping Pong, Marie Antoinette, Titus Andronicus, Top Girls, The Bacchae, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Hamlet, Seascape. Film/TV: Killing Hasselhoff, Advantageous (Sundance 2015 Special Jury Prize), SWING, The Root of Happiness (upcoming), Blindspot (recurring), Elementary, Madam Secretary, Happyish, Person of Interest, Smash (recurring), Maniac (Cary Fukunaga/Netflix, upcoming). Also, David Michalek’s Portraits in Dramatic Time for Lincoln Center Festival, NPR’s Selected Shorts, dozens of audiobooks (2x Audie Award Winner). BFA, Juilliard. @ikedamame.Emily KurodaTheater: Calligraphy by Velina Houston (Playwrights Arena, Theatre Works); Tiger Style (Alliance, Huntington); Fast Company (South Coast Rep); Ballad of Yachiyo (Public Theatre, Seattle Rep, South Coast Rep); Dogeaters (La Jolla Playhouse); Distant Shores (Kirk Douglas Theater); Winter People (Boston Court); Woman Warrior (Berkeley Rep, Huntington, Center Theatre Group); Straight as a Line (Playwrights Arena); Jacques and His Master and Minimata (L.A. Theater Center); and over 35 plays at East West Players, including Red, Theory of Everything, Sisters Matsumoto, Ikebana, Golden Child, M. Butterfly, The Maids. Film and TV: Gilmore Girls, Life After First Failure, Drop Dead Diva, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Grey’s Anatomy, Party Boat, Take the 10, Red. Awards: 5 DramaLogue Awards, Garland Award, Playwrights Arena and East West Players awards for Outstanding Contribution to Los Angeles Theatre.Nadine MaloufNadine was most recently seen cooking in kitchens, in the one woman, site specific New York Premiere of Oh My Sweet Land (PlayCo). This year she also originated the lead role in the World Premiere of A Thousand Splendid Suns (A.C.T). She also played the title role in the World Premiere of Salomé (STC). Recent Off-Broadway: Ultimate Beauty Bible (Page 73), School for Scandal (Redbull), The Who & the What (LCT3). Other Theatre: Scorched (Syracuse Stage), and Macbeth (RADA). New works developed at Sundance Theatre Lab, The Public, Lincoln Center, Complicité, among others. Recent TV/Film: The Looming Tour, Resolutions, May in the Summer. Training: Syracuse University, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

This production is part of The Lark’s Venturous Playwright Fellowship Program, funded by Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation.Today Is My Birthday is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.